Book Review: I GIVE IT TO YOU by Valerie Martin

Title: I GIVE IT TO YOU

Author:  Valerie Martin
Read: July 2020

Expected publication: 6 August 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

When Jan, an American academic, rents an apartment in a Tuscan villa for the summer, she plans to spend her break writing a biography of Mussolini. Instead, she finds herself captivated by her hostess, the elegant, acerbic Beatrice. Beatrice's family ties to Villa Chiara and the land on which it stands extend back generations, although the family has fallen on hard times since WWII and the fate of the property is uncertain. But it is rich in stories, and Jan becomes intrigued by an account of Beatrice's uncle, who was mysteriously killed on the grounds at the conclusion of the war. Did he die at the hands of the invading Americans, or was he murdered by his countrymen for his political opinions?

Beatrice, a student of American literature, proves to be a beguiling storyteller and a sharp critic; she and Jan keep in touch after that summer, and a fierce friendship forms. As the years go on, Jan finds she can't help but write Beatrice's story, a decision that opens up questions of ownership and loyalty and leads to a major betrayal.

What attracted me to this book:

Have you ever dreamed about going to Italy and living in a majestic Tuscan villa? Perhaps real life travel is impossible right now, but if you’re looking for a great armchair escape then this book may just be the one for you – I was immediately smitten by its magnificent setting, and the dark family secrets it promised to uncover.

My musings:

So, did it keep its promise? Partly, yes, partly, no. Let me elaborate. I GIVE IT TO YOU is the story of an American academic and writer, Jan Vidor, who spends a summer at her friend Beatrice’s family residence in Tuscany, the magnificent Villa Chiara. Over the centuries, the house has borne witness to many of the aristocratic Salviati family’s dramas, including the death of Beatrice’s gentle uncle Sandro in the driveway of his home. Over the course of Jan’s stay, Beatrice reveals much of her family’s troubled history, which is grounded in the privilege of the Italian upper classes. As Jan listens with fascination, Beatrice casually dismisses her family’s story with: “I give it to you.” But what does this really mean? Is Jan now the owner of the tale to do with as she wishes?

Over the course of the book, we meet many of Beatrice’s family members and find out about their often tragic fates. Beatrice herself has an interesting tale to tell. After a love-hate relationship with her mother, she emigrated to America and found herself in a doomed marriage to an alcoholic, which produced her (now adult) son David, the last of the family line. To be honest, whilst I felt for the young Beatrice who had set off to start a new life in a far away land, every adult in the story apart from the doomed Sandro was not exactly likeable. Jan seems to take it all in her stride, the family’s aristocratic arrogance, their internal family struggles, the coldness that exists between surviving family members. This lack of emotion on Jan’s part was probably the novel’s biggest downfall for me. I ever really got a good sense of who Jan really was, as we are not privy to her emotions and thoughts, merely the emotionless recounting of the family’s various stories. If Jan had any thoughts about them, she does not share them with the reader. I had the sense that the holiday in Tuscany was her getaway, her bubble in time and space. It existed so separate from her own life that it almost took part in another universe in which her own emotions and opinions never come to play – even though she reflects often about her regrets about her poor grasp of the Italian language that makes her feel self conscious and uncomfortable among the locals. Another puzzle for me was her friendship with Beatrice, which was somewhat remote and cool. If Beatrice really shared her family’s most intimate details, we don’t ever see the emotional connection there that would draw the two women together.

However, the beautiful setting of the rural Italian countryside and the charming Villa Chiara made up for the characters’ lack of emotional connection. I could vividly picture the grand house throughout the last 100 years of history, which saw the tragic demise of a few of Beatrice’s family members. Sandro, who was probably the only “nice” member of the family, touched my heart, and I found his story the saddest of all.

Summary:

All in all, as a query into the ethics of who owns a story – the person who has lived it or the novelist who was gifted it – the book did not fully deliver for me, partly due to my emotional disconnection to Jan, the writer. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the armchair travel to Tuscany and found some aspects of the Salviati family’s history fascinating, including a young Beatrice’s quest to start a new life in America. Too bad that the only legacy that was left was the haughty and pompous David, who I could not root for, which left me somewhat cold as to the last part of the novel. If you are a reader who appreciates a good family saga spanning various major events in history, combined with delicious armchair travel, then this book may be just right for you. I really enjoyed the author’s gift for storytelling and will make sure to look up her other works.

Thank you to Netgalley and Serpent’s Tail for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.